Catherine Ashcraft's research and teaching has focused on a number of issues related to gender, race, and class in a variety of educational and organizational contexts. As a research scientist for NCWIT, she conducts research into effective practices for increasing women's participation in information technology careers. She also consults with the Workforce Alliance, identifying and disseminating effective practices and developing evaluation tools to support implementation of these practices.

Before coming to NCWIT, Catherine served as a professor of multicultural education at Western Washington University. In this capacity, she researched, taught, and spoke about the ways in which schools and workplaces reproduce inequalities in terms of race, class, and gender. Her most recent publications have appeared in Teachers College Record, Anthropology & Education, and Youth & Society. She has also worked as a middle/secondary public school teacher and as the Community Education Director for a battered women's shelter where she identified best practices and implemented programs to address a variety of gender inequities, including workplace and dating violence.

Catherine obtained her M.A. in Communication and her Ph.D. in Education from the University of Colorado.